Chicago will have the most powerful pitchman of any U.S. city that has tried to win the right to host an Olympics, with President Obama due here for the International Olympic Committee's vote Friday on the 2016 Summer Games host.

The international tug of war over Roman Polanski escalated Monday as France and Poland urged Switzerland to free the 76-year-old director on bail and pressed U.S. officials all the way up to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the case.

The month-old government here is expected to announce as soon as next week the first steps toward breaking with decades of banking secrecy that have drawn both tax-allergic customers and global rebukes.